Broken Age Review [Mac OS, Windows, Linux]

Man that was a short ride but what a ride! Broken Age is a point and click adventure that has been broken into two parts. For the price of $25 US dollars you get Act 1 now and when it's ready Act 2 for free later. Or you could have kickstarted it but that was a long time ago now. It even has a tie in with Australia in that the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra recorded the soundtrack.

Right off the bat you'll notice how beautiful this game is, they have gone for an animated style rather than realistic but it totally suits the theme. Perhaps the most captivating aspect is the animations. The main characters are animated so smoothly that they blend beautifully into the world and there are plenty of whacky on screen antics to keep you amused. The music is incredible, as are the sounds and the voices are supplied by a star studded cast. There is that hobbit guy and the Adventure Time guy and even that women who is in all the games.

 

Gameplay is what you would expect from an adventure game. You talk to people, get items, make the items do silly things and solve logic puzzles. In general I found the logic to be pretty understandable and you were guided enough to know what to do, without it taking away from your sense of discovery. There was one time though, when I tried to combine an item with another item but I did so too early and not in the right screen. This meant I stomped around in frustration not knowing what to do next. Aside from that I found it to be quite flowing if a little short.

You'll want to take your time with this game, get stuck on puzzles and stare at the odd animations as it is all over very quickly. This is only Act 1 though and Act 2 will be free, so it isn't a big deal but that second Act is going to take a long time to come out. To get the first half done it took 2 years but at this point the optimistic view is Act 2 will be out next year. This is disheartening because the game leaves you on such a brilliant cliffhanger. I need to know what happens next and I need to know now god damn it!

That's sort of the thing with Broken Age it was all a bit of a gamble and it still is. I feel pretty invested in the story now and I really want to know what happens next but will it be as good as what I have just witnessed? We'll just have to wait and see. Because of this it makes the game really tough to score. I had a lot of fun with it but it just leaves me wanting more and there is little to no replay value. I think I'll give it an optimistic 8.5/10. It really is a joy to play and I highly recommend it but I'm worried about getting caught in the hype and promise of the next act.